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The Friday Five, 3/16/18: 5 things I've been up to this week

This has felt like a long week but also a short week. Even though I have to go get some bloodwork done today, I'm glad it's Friday.

Dessert at Capital Grille, Troy - so pretty!

What I've been up to this week:

Eating out way too much for Troy Restaurant Week. Today is the last day of TRW, and I've had three TRW meals and am having a fourth today. On Sunday, my boyfriend and I went to The Melting Pot, which is always delicious; on Tuesday, I went to Capital Grille with a Yelp friend; on Wednesday, I went to Loccino with coworkers, and today I am going to La Saj with a friend for dinner, before a show downtown.

Seeing shows downtown. My parents and I saw Cinderella at the Fisher on Tuesday night, which was better than I remembered it to be (I saw it in 2016 too). We also had fantastic seats—row F! I think that's the closest I've ever been to the stage there. Tonight, a friend and I are going to see Stomp at the Fox. I'm slightly worried about getting downtown fast because LCA is hosting March Madness games ... we are parking at the Fox structure, not at LCA, but the road that runs between the two tends to get jammed.

Driving a pretty car. I've been driving a 2018 Hyundai Elantra SEL this week, and loving the color. The car is great if you're on a budget, too, as it's very eco-friendly—its average miles per gallon is 32 mpg. Check back next week for a post about my experience with it.

Seeing movies, of course. Last Friday I went to HopCat with a friend for their Founders beer event, and I figured since I was already out and about, I may as well see a movie after—so I caught the 9:10pm screening of A Wrinkle in Time. I didn't compare it to the book because I last read the book in middle or high school, and I'd give it 3.5/5 stars. On Sunday, my boyfriend and I saw Thoroughbreds, which was weird but definitely memorable (3/5 stars). It was sad to see Anton Yelchin (RIP) in it but he was my favorite part of the movie. On Wednesday, I went to see Gringo, which wasn't really a comedy like the trailers lead you to believe, and I'd give that one 3/5 as well.

Cooking. We had a potluck at work yesterday, and I made a Mini Pigs in a Blanket recipe that I've made before—they came out well, IMO, but I had to microwave them at work so they wouldn't be cold, since I cooked them in the oven on Wed. night. I just received another Hello Fresh package (3 recipes, or 6 portions) yesterday so I'll be cooking one of those meals this weekend, too. HF was super generous recently and let me "gift" four people with a free box ($60 value), one of whom was my boyfriend, so I benefit from that too—we are going to cook one of his recipes, the Korean bulgogi tacos, on Saturday or Sunday.

So we've all been there ... that time when you're on an important phone call, and then the call drops. Or even when you need to use the internet on your smartphone, only to realize that you're at your data limit for the month.

I drive all over the metro Detroit area for movie screenings; because of this, most of the time I know where I'm going, but sometimes, I'm in an unfamiliar area or at an unfamiliar theater and I need GPS to know how to get there and back.

A few months ago, I was headed to the AMC Forum (Sterling Heights area) and I wanted to know the best way to get home from there. My phone kept stalling ... and stalling ... and then the Maps app crashed! Gah! I was extremely frustrated. I was finally able to re-start the phone and get safely home, but it TOOK. SO. LONG. Had the Maps app worked the fir…

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. As long-time readers of this blog surely know, I travel quite a lot. A few years ago, I only took about 2-3 trips per year, not including trips in the state of Michigan (Grand Haven weekends, etc.), but this past year, I was fortunate in that I was able to travel very frequently.

I recently heard about a new travel site, DirectHotels.com, which is similar to Kayak.com, in that it searches all of the other travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) to find the best deals for you. I gave it a bit of a test run to see if that is indeed true.

About the site:
DirectHotels.com is a new hotel comparison tool that challenges the big brands. Travelers can easily compare all the travel sites in one place to find the cheapest hotel. DirectHotels.com compares over 200 bookings sites, so users can be sure about its accuracy. Using DirectHotels.com means that you will never overpay.

I've written these past two years about Bookstock, a huge used book & media sale that takes place at Laurel Park Place, in Livonia, and it's returning again this year, from Sunday, 4/22 through Sunday, 4/29.Read more about the event over at my book blog! I was finally able to check it out last year, and they had a large mix of books and media (including DVDs, Blu-rays, and records).To learn more about Bookstock, click hereto visit my book blog, or visit their official site here.